Plans for a distinctive five-storey block of flats in east Greenwich have been approved by a planning inspector, nine months after councillors threw the proposal out.
Council planning officers had said the plans for Woolwich Road, opposite the eight-storey Greenwich Square development, would be “overbearing and incongruous”.
They said that two of the nine flats in the block, which would have four bedrooms each, would be too large – in effect suggesting that the charity should be building ten or more flats in the block so “affordable” housing was provided.
The Estate Charity of William Hatcliffe, which owns several properties in the area, described its plans as a “small-scale, free-standing ‘urban palazzo’” that would replace a small block containing a DIY store and barbers’ shop, along with flats above that were said to be empty.
The inspector said the height of Greenwich Square should be taken into consideration, saying that the proposed development would be “of a high quality, and would be set amongst the established and varied townscape”.
And Greenwich Council’s argument that two of the flats were too large was dismissed, with the inspector pointing out that “there is no maximum space standard for developments in the borough that caps the size of units”.
There was “no compelling evidence” that the charity had sought to dodge rules that call for “affordable” housing, the inspector ruled.
The inspector’s ruling brings to an end a long-running saga. The application first went before councillors in January 2023, was but was deferred so alterations could be made, while it was delayed again in November that year after the charity sent details of further alterations to councillors but not planning officers.
The planning officers had made clear their disdain for the scheme, recommending that councillors reject it, but the council’s former deputy leader, David Gardner, spoke up for it at a planning meeting, calling it “quite iconic, quite exceptional, and far more in keeping with the streetscape”.
“The borough’s littered with penthouse flats and so forth which are far larger. Are we going to say they can’t exist? No, we don’t,” he said.
The Estate Charity of William Hatcliffe owns almshouses in the area and issues grants to locals in financial difficulties.
Andrew Blundy, the chair of the charity, told The Greenwich Wire: “We have always believed that the scheme was of high quality and would complement the local streetscape. It will provide much-needed homes for rent in a borough which has a desperate need for such housing. We are pleased that our vision for the site has been vindicated by the planning inspector”.
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